dieting and the pill, do the two combined affect you getting pregnant?

Hi,

I have been on a diet for the past two years and so far have lost 31 lbs, which I am really happy with. I was taken off the pill (microgynon) by my GP because it was causing migraines and so skin problems. I have had several weird and wonderful months such as long cylces (46 days) and short ones (25 days). I have also has heavy and light periods, increadibly sore boobs for up to two weeks before I start.

We decided to start trying for a baby last year not long after I stopped the pill, nothing has happened and I'm wondering if anyone else is in or has been a similar situation.

I don't think the dieting would affect fertility unless you were eating a severely restricted diet (under 1000 calories daily) or exercising excessively (like an athlete). However, Birth control can cause you to have trouble concieving for up to a year. You may want to touch base with your GP to do some basic fertility testing.

P.S. I had trouble getting pregnant until I bought ovulation pee tests. turns out I ovulate on the 19th day of my cycle, not the 14th. sometimes it can be really simple.

When we were trying for our second, I had read that slightly increasing your calories could help with conception. I ate about 100 calories above my maintenance calories and used the ovulation tests. I was pregnant after the first try which was only a few weeks after discontinuing the pill.

I know my story isn't the norm. It typically does take some time to conceive after being on BCPs for a while. It's also hard to conceive when your menstrual cycle is irregular.

I agree with talking to your GP and trying the ovulation tests.

Good luck!

With your period being so varied it's going to be hard to conceive, there is only 4 days per cycle that you have a good chance of conceiving on.  Have you been charting your basal body temperature?  If not I recommend you do that all you need is a digital thermometer, it will allow you to confirm if you are even ovulating and if you are ovulating tell you which days you are the most fertile.

It took me a 1.5yrs to get a regular cycle back after stopping birth control, but I was able to conceive without a problem when we were ready.  Your body may just need more time to adjust.

I would have to agree with the other posters that said your cycle irregularity and the birth control would have more effect on your ability to conceive over the diet.

Especially the irregular cycles. It could be that you are not ovulating regularly, which would cause you to have those long cycles. You definitely want to check with your GYN and also maybe start tracking your cycle and learning more about how a woman's cycle works. This will help you pinpoint your most fertile time of the month. With cycles that sporadic, you'd have to consider yourself lucky to hit the mark.

One site that really helped me understand everything was fertilityfriend.com. Knowing how your cycle works (for you) will really help you time things. Ovulation tests are great, but like berryblue mentioned, a basal thermometer would be really helpful.

That in addition to being able to tracking it all on fertilityfriend, will help give you a clue as to what's going on. But definitely also check with your GYN. Good luck!